Apparatus fob cleaning and sorting



May 12, 1942. R ss 2,282,530

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND SORTING FUR BEARING SKINS Filed March 22, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet l A; v IM'ENTOR.

A TTK )RNE Y.

May 12, 1942- R. H. PLASS APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND SORTING FUR BEARING SKINS Filed March 22, 1940 3 Shebs-Sheet 2 May 12, 1942. H, PLASS 2,282,530

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND SORTING FUR BEARING SKINS Filed March 22, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 I IN VENTOR. flied P Zmsz',

BY ATTORNEY.

Patented May 12, 1942 v APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND SORTING FUR BEARING SKINS Robert H. Plass, Upper Montclair, N. J. I Application March 22, 1940, Serial No. 325,311

3 Claims.

This invention relates, generally, to apparatus for automatically cleaning and sorting fur bearing pelts or skins and pieces thereof, and the invention has reference, more particularly, to a novel apparatus through which pelts, skins and other fur bearing pieces may be passed and so manipulated as to both remove dirt, scrap and foreign matter therefrom, while also sorting out and separating the larger pieces from smaller pieces, and at the same time loosening or flufiing up matter fur.

The novel apparatus of this invention is especially adapted for treating fur bearing pelts or skins and pieces which are supplied as a raw material from which fur is obtained for the manufacture of hats. Such fur bearing pelts or skins and pieces are usuall packed, at the source of supply, in bales for transport and delivery to the hat fur producing industry, In the handling and baling of the pelts, skins and pieces, not only does dirt and foreign matter become mixed therewith, but due to the compacting pressure applied in the baling operations, the pelts, skins and pieces tend to adhere one to another, and

the fur per se is considerably flattened down and matted. As a consequence of'this, considerable labor is involved, when the bales are opened, in loosening and separating the pelts, skins and pieces by hand and removing therefrom any accumulations of dirt, foreign material, small scraps and the like.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a simple and yet effective apparatus which will automatically perform the desired cleaning and sorting operations, thus not only eliminating arduous hand labor, but performing the work more rapidly and efliciently, while at the same time also eflecting such manipulation of the pelts, skins and pieces as will result in quickly loosening and flufing up any fur which has become flattened down or matted in transport.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will become apparent in the following detailed description of the same.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the cleaning and sorting apparatus of this invention; Fig. longitudinal vertical sectional view thereof, taken on line 2-2 in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view, taken on line 33' in Fi 2.

Similar characters of reference are employed 2isal in the above described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to said drawings the reference character Ill indicates the cylindrical body of a tumbling barrel or drum which is open from end to end. The walls of said body are formed by a suitable perforate or reticular material, such e. g. as woven wire screen or like open mesh material. To the ends of said body are aifixed.

rigid external traction rings II, and, if desired, cooperatively affixed internal reenforcing rings l2 may be likewise provided. The tumbling barrel or drum is so mounted as to rotate about an inclined longitudinal axis above a collecting chamber l3, with the lowermost end of said barrel or drum opening into a discharge compartment l4. Said chamber I3 and compartment 14 are formed by a box-like frame comprising, a bottom wall I5, side walls It, and end walls I! and I8; the chamber I3 is separated from the discharge compartment M by an intermediate transverse partition wall I 9. Said box-like frame is supported upon longitudinally spaced transverse sleepers 2ll, the undersides of which are cut away to. provide passageways 2| intermediate their ends.

Journaled in bearings 22 and 23, which are respectively carried by the frame end walls I! and it, are a pair of laterally spaced longitudinally extending transmission shafts 24. Fixed on said transmission shafts 24 are flanged drive wheels 25 to engage the traction rings ll so as to support and rotate said tumbling barrel or drum, Journaled in bearings 26 aflixed to the outer side of the frame end wall I8 is a transverse drive shaft 21. Keyed to said drive shaft 27 are pinions 28 which mesh with and drive bevel gears 29 on the transmission shafts 24, thus operating said drive wheels 25 to impart the desiredrotary motion to said tumbling barrel or drum. Said drive shaft 21 is provided with fast and loose belt pulleys 3ll-3l, by means of which the drive shaft may be actuated from any suitable source of power; or any other suitable form of power transmission means may be employed for actuating said drive shaft.

Cooperating with said tumbling barrel or drum is a conveyer means, the upper course of which passes axially through the interior of said barrel or drum, the same being arranged to enter through the uppermost open end of the barrel or drum and pass out through the lowermost end thereof, extending thence across the discharge partment l4.to a, point exterior of the frame end wall l8. Said conveyer means, in an illustrative embodiment thereof as shown, comprises a pair of laterally and parallelly spaced endless conveyer chains 32, the upper courses of which are supported by and run between upper sprockets 33, and the lower courses of which are supported by and run between lower sprockets 34, and so as to pass beneath the bottom wall I of the box-like frame and through the passageways 21 of the sleepers which support the latter. Said sprockets 33-34 are, affixed upon transverse shafts 35 which are suitably journaled in and between bearing brackets 36 mounted on the frame end walls |1l8. One of said shafts 35, and the sprockets carried thereby, is power driven from the drive shaft 21 by an intermediate chain and sprocket transmission 31, thus imparting operative movement to the conveyer chains in the direction of the arrow .7: shown in Fig. 2. Carried by and extending between said conveyer chains 32 are longitudinally spaced cross-bars 38. The spacing of these cross-bars 38 is such that complete pelts or skins and relatively large size fur pieces will bridge across the same so as to be carried on by the conveyer means, while small fur pieces, scrap, dirt, foreign material, etc., will fall between the crossbars and into the barrel or drum interior.

Suitably supported to extend downwardly v through the uppermost open end of the barrel or drum, and into the interior thereof above the inwardly passing end of the upper course of the conveyer means, is a downwardly inclined delivery chute 39 upon which the fur material to be treated is deposited, so as to be fed downwardly therethrough by gravity into the receiving end of the apparatus.

Cooperative with the outgoing end portion of the upper course of the conveyer means, where it leaves the interior of the barrel or drum and moves over and across the interior of the compartment M, are upper and lower rotated brush cylinders disposed substantially transverse to the direction of movement of said conveyer means course. The reference. character 40 indicates the upper brush cylinder, which extends over and substantially tangent to the upper face of said conveyer means course,. the same being mounted upon an upper transverse shaft 4| journaled in and between bearing brackets 42 mounted on the side walls 16 of the box-like frame.

Said shaft 4| is driven from the drive shaft 21 by a straight belt and pulley transmission 43, so that said upper brush cylinder 40 rotates in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, that is in direction opposite to the movement of the upper face of the adjacent conveyer means course. The reference character 44 indicates the lower brush cylinder, which extends beneath and substantially tangent to the under face of said conveyer means course, the same being mounted upon a lower transverse shaft 45 journaled in and between bearing brackets 46 mounted on the side walls E6 of the box-like frame. Said shaft 45 is driven from the drive shaft 21 by a crossed belt and pulley transmission 41, so that said lower brush cylinder 44 rotates in an anti-clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, that is in direction opposite to the movement of the under face of the adjacent conveyer means course.

Arranged to run transversely through the lower part of the interior of the discharge compartment I4 is a discharge conveyer means. This conveyer means comprises an endless belt or apron 48, supported at its rear end by a roller 49 Iotatably mounted in bearing supports 50 projecting exteriorly from a side wall I6 of the box-like frame, so that the belt or apron extends through an opening 5| in said side wall It, passing. thence across the interior of the compartment 14 and outwardly through an opening 52 in the opposite side wall 16. Beyond said opposite side wall IS, the apron or belt inclines upwardly to pass over a drive roller 53, the shaft 54 of which is journaled in and extends between side frame plates 55. The upper and lower courses of said apron or belt 48, as moving between the fiat running and inclined positions thereof, are supported and guided by upper and lower guide rollers 56 and 51 which are also journaled in and between said frame plates 55. Said drive roller 53 may be power driven by means of any suitable arrangement of power transmission means. For example, one convenient driving arrangement, as shown, comprises, a drive pulley 58, affixed to an adjacent transmission shaft 24, over which runs a crossed belt 59 for engaging a driven pulley 6!] afiixed on the shaft 54 of said drive roller 53. As thus driven the upper course of the belt or apron- 48 moves in the direction of the arrow y shown in Fig. 3. The outer or discharge end of the belt or apron 48 is elevated and so disposed that a receptacle 6| may be positioned beneath the same, to receive material discharged from the apparatus.

In the operation of the "apparatus, the tumbling barrel or drum is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3. Aflixed to the interior sides of the body ID of the barrel or drum are a plurality of circumferentially spaced radial flights 62, extending lengthwise thereof. Said flights may be disposed either parallel to the axis of the barrel or drum or somewhat obliquely to said axis so as to incline toward the lowermost open end of the barrel or drum. The purpose of these flights 62 will presently appear.

In the use of the apparatus, a bale or fur bearing skins being opened, the skins are gradually fed into the chute 39, either by hand or by means of suitable automatic feeding means (not shown). The fur material descending through the chute 39 is led into the uppermost open end of the rotating tumbling barrel or drum l0 and thereupon discharged onto the ingoing course of the conveyer means.

The larger fur pieces are caught upon the spaced cross bars 38 of the conveyer means and so supported thereby as' to be carried along through the barrel or drum interior and on out through the'lowermost open end thereof. As such conveyer carried larger fur pieces move away from'the barrel or drum, the same are carried past the rotating brush cylinders 40 and 44, the brushing movement ofwhich will loosen and fluff up any flattened down or matted fur, after .which' such large fur pieces are carried on to be finally discharged from the conveyer means asthe course thereof turns and descends to enter upon its return course. The action of the brush cylinders 40 and 44 also operate to dislodge from the conveyer cross-bars 38 any fur, pieces not securely supported thereby, or which merely hang from a single cross-bar, such dislodged fur pieces thence falling into the discharge compartment l4, from which they will be removed by the discharge conveyer belt or apron 48.

The smaller fur pieces, which are not large enough to spread out, upon the spaced crossbars 38 of the conveyer means so as to be carried along thereby and directly out of the barrel or drum, together with scrap, dirt, foreign material, etc., fall downwardly, through the spaces between the conveyer cross-bars 38, into the lower interior of the barrel or drum. Owing to the rotary movement of the barrel or drum, the fur pieces which thus fall into the same are tumbled about so that any accompanying scrap, dirt and foreign material is freed to pass through the mesh openings of the barrel or drum Walls and into the underlying chamber l3, which serves as a collection chamber therefor.

As the fur pieces are tumbled about by the rotating barrel or drum, the same will be also engaged by and carried upwardly by the revolving flights 62 to a level above the operative course of the moving conveyer means, so as to be again dropped upon the latter, and, if large enough, to be carried on and out of the apparatus thereby, but, if too small, to again drop through the conveyer to the lower interior of the drum. These operations will be continuously repeated with the tendency to discharge the larger fur pieces through the agency of the conveyer means, and finall to spill the smaller fur pieces out of the lowermost end of the barrel or drum and into the compartment Hi. When said smaller fur pieces are thus delivered into the compartment M, the same will fall onto the out-moving course of the conveyer belt or apron 48, so as to be carried outwardly from the apparatus, and thence finally discharged into the receptacle 6! which is placed beneath the discharge end of the conveyer belt or apron Ml to receive the same. The tumbling action exerted upon the smaller fur pieces within the rotating barrel or drum, not only frees scrap, dirt and foreign material therefrom, but also tends, by the agitation involved, to loosen and flufi up any flattened down or matted fur of said pieces.

From the above it will be obvious that, as subjected to the operation of the apparatus, not only is the fur material thoroughly cleaned and loosened up and rid of accompanying undesirable foreign material, but the same is also sorted so as to separate the larger pieces from the smaller pieces, and yet notwithstanding all usable fur pieces are delivered without loss.

In some instances where the sorting of the fur pieces is not especially required, the apparatus may be provided without the conveyer means 3238, the tumbling of the fur pieces in the drum or barrel being alone relied upon for separating dirt, scrap and foreign material therefrom. I have found, however, the combination of moving conveyer means and rotating barrel or drum to provide a much more efficient apparatus, since the same will adequately handle a greater quantity of fur pieces in a given time, and

since the larger fur pieces will be quickly carried out of the barrel or drum, the tumbling capacity of the latter can be devoted to the smaller fur pieces which can therefore move with more freedom, and may consequently free themselves from scrap, dirt and foreign material more rapidly. As a consequence of this the combined conveyer and rotating barrel and drum structure is recommended even where sorting is of no especial moment.

I am aware that various changes could be made in the apparatus of this invention and many apparently widely different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the following claims. It is therefore intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for the purposes describing comprising, a rotatable open ended tumbling drum having perforate walls and mounted to incline downwardly from its receiving end toward its discharge end, said drum having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending flights radially projecting from the interior sides of its walls, a discharge compartment with which the discharge end of said drum communicates, and a driven sorting conveyer means having a course arranged to enter the receiving end of said drum to pass axially therethrough and over and beyond said discharge compartment, said sorting conveyer means comprising laterally spaced conveyer chains and longitudinally spaced cross-bars extending between and carried by said conveyer chains whereby unimpeded open spaces are provided intermediate said cross-bars and coextensive with the width of said sorting conveyer.

2. Apparatus for the purposes described comprising, a rotatable open ended tumbling drum having perforate walls and mounted to incline downwardly from its receiving end toward its discharge end, said drum having a plurality of flights radially projecting from the interior sides of its walls, a discharge compartment with which the discharge end of said drum communicates, a driven sorting conveyer means having a course arranged to enter said receiving end of said drum to pass axially therethrough and over and beyond said discharge compartment, said sorting conveyer means comprising laterally spaced conveyer chains and longitudinally spaced cross-bars extending between and carried by said chains, and rotatable brush cylinder means to cooperate with that portion of said sorting conveyer course which moves above said discharge compartment.

3. Apparatus for the purposes described comprising, a box-like frame having bottom, side and end walls and a transverse partition to divide the interior thereof into a collection chamber and a discharge compartment, an open ended tumbling drum having perforate Walls, said drum bemg disposed over said collection chamber to incline downwardly from its receiving toward its discharge end with said latter end communicating with the interior of said discharge compartment, means to rotate said drum, said drum havmg a plurality of flights radially projecting from the interior sides of its walls, a sorting conveyer comprising laterally spaced endless chains and longitudinally spaced cross-bars extending between and carried by said chains, means for supporting said chains whereby an operative course of the sorting conveyer enters the receiving end of said drum to pass axially therethrough and over and beyond said discharge compartment, upper and lower rotatable brush cylinders respectively disposed across and in cooperation with that portion of said sorting conveyer which moves above said discharge compartment, and a driven discharge conveyer means arranged to move through and out of said discharge compartment.

ROBERT H. PLASS, 

